Twenty of the laid off employees were from audit operations and seven from the Bureau of Special Investigations, which probes waste, fraud and abuse in public assistance programs like MassHealth and food stamps.

Bump said she’ll fill the 20 positions in audit operations, but not those in the Bureau of Special Investigations. She said she doesn’t expect the personnel decisions to reduce the quantity and quality of the office’s investigations.

Bump said a peer review committee took a hard look at how the auditor’s office works and gave the office a bad report card.